


To Be a Warden

by myrmidonowain



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Near Death Experiences, The Taint (Dragon Age), just hints of gladnoct really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-23 23:27:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21328426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrmidonowain/pseuds/myrmidonowain
Summary: Pain. Unbelievable, tortuous, unending. It coursed through his veins, burning, unceasing.He heard muffled voices around him; this was all he knew of the world around him. Noctis currently suffered from darkspawn taint, an affliction which, as far as he knew, was incurable. He knew he would die from this, and only wished. Well. He wished many things. To have met his betrothed once more, to travel Thedas, to live his life as his own man. Alas, he would not live to do so.Dragon Age/FFXV Crossover, where FFXV characters are in the Dragon Age setting!
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Kudos: 6





	To Be a Warden

**Author's Note:**

> i have brainworms for this au i've been tweeting abt so i wrote for the first time in. many years!! seven years!! this will actually be my first published fic, please enjoy!!
> 
> also i made a cover for this fic! on dA -->http://fav.me/ddjtf8y

Pain. Unbelievable, tortuous, unending. It coursed through his veins, burning, unceasing.

He heard muffled voices around him; this was all he knew of the world around him. Noctis currently suffered from darkspawn taint, an affliction which, as far as he knew, was incurable. He knew he would die from this, and only wished. Well. He wished many things. To have met his betrothed once more, to travel Thedas, to live his life as his own man. Alas, he would not live to do so.

Or so he thought.

\--

Though the fifth blight had only really affected Ferelden, and had been defeated by the Hero of Ferelden, King Regis of Nevarra worried. His son, Prince Noctis, was currently on leave to Ferelden to ‘live his own life’, as he put it. Specifically, he was in Denerim. Denerim, full of pickpockets and whores and who knows what else.

Well, Noct knew. Knows, now. He also knew he was bored as all get out, waiting for some bann or other to meet him in the Gnawed Noble. The dwarf hawking his wares from Orzammar outside the window was driving him crazy. He knew he had this meeting to do but… He really needed to blow off some steam.

Noct was out the door and headed to the Chanter’s board before the serving girl could wish him a good day, which was fine by him. He didn’t need any well-wishes, he was feeling pretty confident. So, as he scanned the board, he decided to pick the hardest job there: clear out a few straggling darkspawn nearby. No big deal, he thought, though the description of the darkspawn was hazy. Perhaps they ran before getting a good look at what kinds there were? Who knows.

As he headed out of the city, he had some time to himself to think. To think, but mostly to bemoan his duties. Stupid banns, well-wishers, stupid! There’s no point to all the high society crap his father put him through. He just wanted to defend his people in a way that mattered, but noooo, it’s ‘too dangerous’ and ‘absolutely the most reckless thing you’ve ever said.’ So much for leading his armies to victory.

But that’s whatever. Here’s what’s important: those darkspawn stragglers? More than he expected. Bigger, too. But what worried Noct most? Some arsewipe was already fighting them!

He was big, and horned, and impossibly ripped. Qunari, definitely. But did Qunari have such spectacular tattoos? He knew about the face paint they wore to battle, but this guy had a great feathered beast spread across his back and shoulders. Maybe he’s Tal-Vashoth?

But now he was staring, ogling really, when there was fighting to be done. Noct dashed in, sword at the ready, slicing down genlocks and hurlocks as he went. He took a chance, dove in beside the Qunari man, who didn't have the time to do much more than smile and let out a hearty roar as he swung his greatsword down upon the skull of another darkspawn. Noct simply grinned and continued hacking at the darkspawn in front of him. With two of them, this amount of darkspawn shouldn’t be lethal.

That is, if that hurlock alpha hadn’t shown up.

Both men were too busy to notice its presence, allowing it to rally and boost the darkspawn around it without a problem. Noct and the Qunari man fought and fought, losing stamina and beginning to crowd into each other’s space as the darkspawn closed in. Noct’s stamina was beginning to flag, even though he was trying to keep up with stamina draughts and deep mushrooms. He was beginning to get nicked and scratched by the darkspawn’s shitty blades, with one particularly nasty cut settling just below his ribcage. It burned, but he couldn’t worry about that right now.

Eventually, the Qunari man noticed and took down the hurlock alpha with one great sweep of his greatsword, allowing the other, lesser, darkspawn to be taken down in quick succession. When all was said and done, however, Noct found himself sweating and shaking too much to stand and thank the Qunari man. As he fell to his knees, adrenaline subsiding, the other man turned to him and said… something. He couldn’t hear, and his vision fell to darkness.

\--

Gladio, the aforementioned Qunari man, was currently rushing back to Denerim with the other warrior draped across his shoulder. He was panicking - this man, he had no idea who he was. His only clue was that he was a capable fighter. He headed first to the market district - surely someone there would recognize him? After speaking to several merchants, he concluded that the man had not done any shopping here. Desperate, Gladio headed towards the chantry, though he knew he would get looks for it. A Qunari in the chantry? Yeah, right. Anyway, he asked the chanter there, Rosamund he remembers, if she’d seen the man before.

Finally, success. Chanter Rosamund had seen the man before, perusing the chanter’s board earlier today, and claims to have seen him come from the direction of the tavern. So Gladio went, carrying this warrior to the tavern. When he arrived, however, the place was swarming with very worried looking guards.

“Halt! State your business, Qunari!” One guard manning the door turned to him, and Gladio just stared and pointed wordlessly at the warrior he was holding. 

The guard’s mouth turned to a small ‘o’, and he motioned to another guard to help him lay out the other man on one of the tavern’s beds in the back. It wasn’t bad, but Gladio’s intact horn kept bumping into door frames and light fixtures.

Within minutes, the guards in the front room seemed to have dissipated, as if the person they were looking for had been found. He would have assumed it was someone else, and not the man laying on the bed before him, but now guards were posted outside the room.

But guards wouldn’t do much for the man now. Gladio could see his veins under a sheen of sweat, black and pulsing with the taint. He knew the only cure was to find a grey warden, and put the man through the joining. If he survived the joining, and that was a big if, he’d live, for a time. Gladio had heard much of the wardens, a big fan of them really. He knew more than most, at least. He knew you could die before even becoming a grey warden, in the joining, for one.

But it wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t find a warden in town. Luckily, he knew that Arl Eamon’s estate would often board wardens, thanks to the arl’s friendship with the hero of Ferelden. And so he went, bumping his horn on the way out, getting the stink eye from the barkeep for it.

Gladio was brought in by one of the guards, and brought to the man in charge. Not the arl, no, he was in Redcliffe, but he supposed it would do. He waited as the man went and checked the guest rooms, to see if any wardens were currently there.

And suddenly, Gladio doubted what he was doing. Who was he even getting a warden for? He had no idea, no clues as to who the warrior was. Is. He’s still alive, and somehow that matters to him. He, a Vashoth, wouldn’t usually come to a stranger’s aid. But this stranger had come to his side, fought alongside him. And he felt like a shield-brother, though Gladio didn’t know what it felt like to have such a thing. And it confused him.

But here comes the warden. Tall for a human, and built, too, with a greatsword strapped to his back. The warden introduced himself as Cor, and asked why Gladio needed a warden.

“It’s weird but. This man, I fought with him outside Denerim against some darkspawn and. I don’t even know him, but. I know wardens can help someone like him, right? With the taint?” Gladio stumbled on his words thanks to his doubt. Nice job, Gladio, now you look a fool in front of the warden!

Cor’s eyes flashed with something like shock for a split second, but his face stayed calm. “He could go through the joining, yes. Where is he?”

“The Gnawed Noble, the tavern,” Gladio said, and off they went.

They got the man, Noctis, apparently, up and moving so they could go to a warehouse in the market district to do the joining ritual. Gladio joined Noctis and Cor; he was such a fan of wardens already, he might as well be one. So the three of them went. Without any guards, as Cor directed. The joining was a secret after all. Cor mentioned that there had never been a Qunari warden, and Gladio corrected him: he was Vashoth, never Qunari. Gladio supported Noctis’s shoulder as they walked.

When they arrived at the warehouse, Cor pushed a shelving unit out of the way and walked down the stairs hidden behind it. Once they reached the wardens’ cache, Cor began to pace around the room, picking up and mixing various things in a large goblet. Then, he spoke.

“I will speak the words said before every joining since the first. Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that can not be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day we shall join you,” Cor passed the goblet to Gladio. As Gladio drank, he felt the concoction burn down his throat and spread through his chest.

And then his vision went black.

\--

Cor breathed a sigh of relief. Both recruits had survived, thank the Maker. Both were unconscious on the floor of the wardens’ warehouse; he wished he could have allowed guards to come after all, to help carry the two recruits back to the tavern. He wasn’t even sure he could carry the Vashoth man, he was so large. So, he made do: he gathered some of the mage robes that were stored in the warehouse, shoved them under the recruits’ heads, and waited for them to wake.

At least they had survived. That was all he could ask for. For all that Cor loved and revered the wardens, he felt it was wrong to hide the fact that the joining was so dangerous. So many died to that initial contact with the taint… It was unjust. 

It would take longer for Noctis to wake, he knew that. Coming into contact with the taint after a blight, when wardens were scarce? Dangerous thing, that. Especially dangerous for a young prince of Nevarra. Which he apparently didn’t care for, considering his recklessness earlier today. Cor sighed, wondering when the Vashoth man would wake. It should be soon, but one can’t be too sure.

The silence held Cor, and he was thankful for this day. He saved someone, rather than doom them to a short life. Well, it was half and half really, with Gladio there.

\--

When Noctis woke, he felt wrecked. Like he had the worst kind of hangover, but he hadn’t drank anything… except he did. He drank that foul concoction and was now a grey warden, for better or for worse. His mind raced with thoughts of his past life and his new one. Things would be different, certainly. But now? Now he could protect his people, all people, just as he wanted.

Things were different, and that’s okay with him.

**Author's Note:**

> u ever think abt how wardens have thirty years to live after their joining? at least that's longer than noct had :)


End file.
